mike madigan – Attorney Legal Counsel

Michael Madigan defense attorneys rest, closing arguments set for Wednesday | Top Stories

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 15:36:18 +0000

Attorneys representing former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan rested on Thursday afternoon, with the trial now one step closer to its conclusion.

According to a spokesperson for the Department of Justice, closing arguments in the case are set to get underway on Wednesday, Jan. 22.

Madigan made headlines in recent days as he took the stand in his own defense, a rare and risky legal strategy that allowed him to make his case directly to the jury, but also exposed him to cross-examination from prosecutors trying to prove he abused his power as House Speaker for his own personal gain.

Madigan is facing 23 counts of bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy in the trial, which began last year and has gone through several ups and downs as prosecutors and defense attorneys spar over whether Madigan’s conduct was illegal.

The prosecution rested its case in December. More than 150 tapes, wiretaps and transcripts were entered into evidence during the trial, with prosecutors aiming to prove that Madigan was allegedly trading jobs and favors in exchange for his favorable votes on legislation while he was House Speaker.

Prosecutors accuse Madigan of leading a “criminal enterprise” in an effort to enhance his political power and to enrich friends and supporters.

The prosecution relied heavily on phone calls between Madigan and co-defendant Michael McClain, who was the speaker’s close personal confidant in Springfield.

Former Chicago Ald. Danny Solis secretly recorded phone calls and entered into a deferred prosecution agreement in exchange for working as a government informant in the investigation into Madigan and high-profile lobbyists in Springfield.

Madigan denied allegations of wrongdoing, saying he was only trying to help people who asked for it and arguing that he never received any material benefit for such help.

This story first appeared on NBCChicago.com.

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The post Michael Madigan defense attorneys rest, closing arguments set for Wednesday | Top Stories appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan defense attorneys begin presenting case in federal corruption trial

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Sat, 21 Dec 2024 01:31:24 +0000

CHICAGO (WLS) — Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s defense attorneys began presenting their case Thursday at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.

Madigan’s defense is expected to consist of three witnesses, including his longtime 13th Ward assistant and a successful novelist, who at one time was the former speaker’s top counsel. But, it was the real estate developer, who, in some ways, kicked off this whole investigation, who took the stand first.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

It was July 18, 2017, when Madigan first met real estate developer Andy Cretal at his tax law firm office in the Loop. That meeting was, without either man’s knowledge, being recorded by 22nd Ward Alderman-turned-government-mole Danny Solis.

At the time, Cretal was looking to build what are now the Union West apartments in the West Loop, Solis’ ward. But, it wasn’t until weeks earlier, when Madigan called Solis out of the blue asking for an introduction, that the FBI’s ears perked up.

The phone call went as follows:

Solis: “Do you know the developer?”
Madigan: “Those people?”
Solis: “Do you know the, uh, people there?”
Madigan: “No, but I’d like to.”

Madigan, along with his co-defendant, Mike McClain, are accused of running a criminal enterprise that sought to use his position in Springfield to enrich the speaker and his cronies, partly through illegally steering business to his law firm.

Another video played in court showed an exchange between Solis and Madigan.

Solis: “Did you want to meet?”
Madigan: “Over the phone, you made a comment that there, that there was a quid pro quo.”
Solis: “Oh, I’m sorry, yeah.”
Madigan: “Yeah.”
Solis: “OK.”
Madigan: “You shouldn’t be talking like that. You’re just recommending our law firm.”

And yet, as McClain’s defense rested Thursday morning, Madigan’s attorneys called Andy Cretal to the stand, in the hopes his testimony will help them combat those allegations.

“Did you ever feel threatened, fearful or intimidated into hiring that law firm?” attorney Dan Collins asked.

“I did not,” Cretal said.

And yet, during cross-examination, prosecutors asked Cretal if he was concerned that the development would not be authorized if they didn’t hire Madigan’s law firm.

“That was a concern of mine, yes,” he said.

Madigan’s defense is expected to bleed into January.

Neither Madigan nor McClain are expected to take the stand in their own defense.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to the bribery and racketeering charges against them.

After Thursday, the jury will be on break for the holidays, not returning to the courthouse until Jan. 2.

Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday

Related Coverage: How we got to here

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The video in the player above is from an earlier report.

The post Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan defense attorneys begin presenting case in federal corruption trial appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan defense attorneys begin presenting case in federal corruption trial

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 04:23:47 +0000

CHICAGO (WLS) — Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s defense attorneys began presenting their case Thursday at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

The phone call went as follows:

Solis: “Do you know the developer?”
Madigan: “Those people?”
Solis: “Do you know the, uh, people there?”
Madigan: “No, but I’d like to.”

Another video played in court showed an exchange between Solis and Madigan.

And yet, as McClain’s defense rested Thursday morning, Madigan’s attorneys called Andy Cretal to the stand, in the hopes his testimony will help them combat those allegations.

“Did you ever feel threatened, fearful or intimidated into hiring that law firm?” attorney Dan Collins asked.

“I did not,” Cretal said.

And yet, during cross-examination, prosecutors asked Cretal if he was concerned that the development would not be authorized if they didn’t hire Madigan’s law firm.

“That was a concern of mine, yes,” he said.

Madigan’s defense is expected to bleed into January.

Neither Madigan nor McClain are expected to take the stand in their own defense.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to the bribery and racketeering charges against them.

After Thursday, the jury will be on break for the holidays, not returning to the courthouse until Jan. 2.

Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday

Related Coverage: How we got to here

The video in the player above is from an earlier report.

The post Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan defense attorneys begin presenting case in federal corruption trial appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

Michael Madigan news: Attorneys for ex Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan seek to dismiss part of racketeering charges indictment

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 14:45:15 +0000

CHICAGO — Former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan asked a federal judge Tuesday to toss secret recordings made by federal investigators and dismiss part of the bombshell racketeering indictment the feds spent years building against him.

The more than 100 pages of motions filed in federal court amount to the most substantive response yet from Madigan’s defense attorneys to the aggressive public corruption investigation that swirled around him long before he was indicted in March 2022.

They also offer new context to a secretly recorded August 2014 meeting between Madigan, then-Ald. Danny Solis, a hotel developer and a secret government informant. The Chicago Sun-Times exposed details of that recorded meeting in January 2019 in a report that first revealed the feds’ interest in the powerful Southwest Side Democrat.

Though Madigan did not appear to cross any legal lines in that meeting, Madigan’s attorneys painted it Tuesday as the starting point of the feds’ lengthy pursuit of Madigan – and wrongly so, they say.

“A full and fair review of the audio and video recording of the meeting, as well as analysis of the surrounding circumstances, demonstrates that the government’s inferences [in an application that followed to the chief federal judge] were not objectively reasonable,” defense attorney Sheldon Zenner wrote. “In fact, they were purposefully false.”

Zenner and the rest of Madigan’s legal team wrote that the application, filed on Sept. 26, 2014 – and theorizing Madigan had conspired to commit extortion – amounted to the “first time that the government sought authority to intercept Madigan’s communications.”

The meeting took place two years before Solis began cooperating with the feds and making his own secret recordings of Madigan and others. Madigan’s team wrote that the feds later pressed Solis for two days in 2018 about the meeting.

Solis purportedly said the hotel developer would have received a zoning change he sought “regardless” of his decision to hire Madigan’s law firm.

Madigan’s attorneys wrote that “each and every application” to electronically surveil Madigan until 2019 used the same information from the Sept. 26, 2014 application.

SEE ALSO | Congressman ‘Chuy’ Garcia mentioned in recording during feds’ ComEd probe

The motions are reminiscent of those filed by defense attorneys for indicted Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), whose separate racketeering case was built in part on evidence gathered by Solis. U.S. District Judge Robert Dow denied them in June.

The election night deadline for Madigan’s attorneys to file the motions was set in January by U.S. District Judge John Blakey, who presides over the case.

The man who secretly recorded the August 2014 meeting, See Y. Wong, was sentenced two months ago to 16 months in prison for an unrelated fraud scheme. During that hearing, Assistant U.S. attorney Amarjeet Bhachu described Wong as a “catalyst” in the feds’ investigation.

The details of the meeting were contained in a May 2016 FBI affidavit obtained by the Sun-Times. It said Wong began providing information to the FBI in May 2014, while he was representing a Chinese businessman who wanted a zoning change to build a hotel in Chinatown.

To secure that zoning change, Wong turned to Solis, who was then the head of the City Council’s zoning committee. As a result, Wong wound up in the meeting that August with Solis and Madigan at the law firm of Madigan & Getzendanner.

Madigan and his law partner explained the firm’s services and fees during the meeting, and at one point Madigan said, “We’re not interested in a quick killing here. We’re interested in a long-term relationship,” according to the affidavit.

After the meeting and outside Madigan’s presence, Solis allegedly told Wong that “if he works with the speaker, he will get anything he needs for that hotel.”

Madigan was indicted in March 2022, and the feds expanded their case against him last October. He is accused in multiple schemes – some involving Solis – but among them is the bribery scandal involving ComEd.

Madigan confidant Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, ex-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and onetime City Club President Jay Doherty all face trial next month for their alleged roles in that scheme.

In a motion asking Blakey to dismiss parts of the separate indictment against Madigan – which also levels charges against McClain – Madigan’s attorneys insist it is common for public officials to make job recommendations. They acknowledged that some people may even be hired to curry favor with public officials.

RELATED | Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan enters not guilty plea on all counts in federal case

But, they wrote, “currying favor with government officials – even those with the capacity to influence legislation of interest to the employers – is legal.”

What’s not legal, they wrote, is “corruptly soliciting something of value in return for official action.”

The indictment against Madigan, they insist, “blurs that distinction entirely.”

The post Michael Madigan news: Attorneys for ex Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan seek to dismiss part of racketeering charges indictment appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

Michael Madigan news: Attorneys for ex Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan seek to dismiss part of racketeering charges indictment

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 11:04:15 +0000